Step 4: The final product

Step 5: DONE

Now you have your magnets ready for your fridge, cars, tool boxes or whatever metal surface you have. There are unlimited ideas for this. You could ...

Here is a fairly easily way to make picture magnets for your friends, family or yourself with some magnetic business cards, an ink jet printer and a couple programs. Not to mention it is a lot cheaper than anything you will find in the store.

Step 1: What you're going to need

There aren't to many needs for this Instructable to get a very good end product. Here is the list of what you are going to need.

1. Magnetic business card You can find these at any office supplies store or large retailer. I got mine at Walmart (50 magnets for $18). There are a bunch of different name brands and different counts inside the packages and such. I used the ones in the picture below.

3. Software to put everything togetherI used Photoshop and Microsoft Word for making my magnets, but you should be able to use any imaging software that can crop, rotate, and change the image size. Also You may be able to use a different program then Microsoft Word as long as it is able to open a template that corresponds with the magnetic business card sheet.

4. Decoupage glue, clear sealer or clear tape (optional)You should be able to find this at any craft store or you can also make your own. I didn't use this on mine but I will explain more later.

Step 2: Time to start putting things together

So once you have got your magnets and whatever programs you have, you can start collecting your images for magnets. You can get them from anywhere you like. You can use pictures you already have, find images off websites like funny t-shirt sites or put together your own pictures and words.

Wherever you end up getting them you will most likely have to edit them a bit. You may have to crop them to get in the parts you want in the picture and to help cut out some background. You will also have to end up with a picture that has the dimensions of 3.5"x2".

well as someone mentioned some of those pictures are from www.threadless.com a t-shirt company that takes in design submissions from people like you and I and then selects whichs ones are good and prints them up. It's a pretty cool site. So check them out if you feel inclined to.

I am going to save everyone a lot of valuable printer ink and fancy magnetic business card purchasing. Hang on to those free magnets you're always getting from the insurance agent, the doctor's office, the slip and fall attorney. Next time you have something you want to magnetically attach to your refrigerator, pull them out. If it is big, cut up those magnets and attach a square to each corner. If the magnets are bigger than your art work, then cut them to fit. Glue your artwork with rubber cement (no wrinkles) or tape with scotch tape rolled to make a two sided adhesive. Stick on your cluttered refrigerator and admire your work. There you go. Low tech and effective.

You should recognize the designers at Threadless for the use of their images. I'm not entirely sure of the legality of using them, but you should at least give credit where it is due.Very thorough instructable though, I had no idea they made printable business card magnets. Cool.